Questions & Answers about У нас общий план.
Russian often expresses possession with the construction у + [person in genitive] + (есть) + thing.
- у literally means “by / at / with (someone)”
- нас is the genitive of мы (“we”)
So у нас is literally “at us / with us”, which functions like “we have”.
Examples:
- У меня есть книга. – I have a book.
- У него есть машина. – He has a car.
- У нас общий план. – We have a shared plan.
The verb иметь (“to have”) exists but is much less common in everyday speech than this у + genitive pattern.
In modern Russian, the present‑tense verb “to be” (быть) is usually omitted in simple statements:
- Он студент. – He (is) a student.
- Она дома. – She (is) at home.
So У нас общий план literally corresponds to:
- “By us (there) is a shared plan” → “We have a shared plan.”
You could think of an underlying structure like У нас (есть) общий план, where есть is optional.
Using есть here (У нас есть общий план) is grammatically correct but carries a slightly different nuance (see next question).
They answer different questions:
У нас есть план. – We have a plan (at all).
- Emphasizes existence: “Don’t worry, we’re not plan‑less; a plan exists.”
У нас общий план. – We have a common/shared plan.
- Assumes the existence of a plan and tells you something about it: that it’s shared / common to us.
You could even say:
- У нас есть общий план. – We (do) have a common/shared plan.
Here both existence (есть) and the quality (общий) are emphasized.
План is in the nominative singular (masculine: план).
Structure-wise:
- У нас – preposition у
- genitive pronoun; marks the possessor (“with us / by us”).
- (есть) общий план – what exists “by us”; this part behaves like the subject of the sentence.
In sentences like У меня есть план, grammars often analyze план as the logical subject, in nominative case, and у меня as an adverbial phrase of possessor. The same logic applies in У нас общий план.
Общий can cover several related meanings in English, and context decides which is best:
Shared / common / mutual
- У нас общий план. – We share the same plan.
- У них общие интересы. – They have common interests.
General / overall (as opposed to detailed or specific)
- Общий вопрос. – A general question.
- Общий план проекта. – The overall plan of the project.
In У нас общий план, it most often means:
- either “we share the same plan”
- or “we have a general/overall plan”
depending on context.
Adjectives in Russian agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case.
- план – masculine, singular, nominative.
- So общий must also be masculine, singular, nominative.
Key forms of общий in the nominative:
- Masculine: общий
- Feminine: общая
- Neuter: общее
- Plural: общие
Examples:
- общий план – a shared/general plan
- общая цель – a common goal
- общее дело – a common cause
- общие друзья – mutual friends
You can say наш общий план, and it is not wrong or forbidden.
Nuance:
У нас общий план. – Literally “With us (there is) a common plan.”
Focus is on the fact of sharedness and on the possessive construction у нас.Наш общий план. – “Our common plan.”
This is a straightforward noun phrase with a possessive adjective наш. You’d typically use it inside a larger sentence:- Это наш общий план. – This is our shared plan.
- Мы обсудили наш общий план. – We discussed our common plan.
If you say just Наш общий план. with no verb or context, it sounds like a fragment, not a full sentence.
Word by word:
- У – [u] as in “boot”; very short.
- нас – [nas]; stress on нас when said alone, but in the sentence У нас usually sounds like a single rhythm group [u ˈnas].
общий – [ˈobʂɨj]
- stress on об‑: О́бщий
- щ here is pronounced like “shch” merged into one sound [ʂɕ], often simplified to [ʂ].
- final -ий here is [ɨj] or [ɪj]-like, depending on accent.
план – [plan], with a clear l and short a.
Approximate full IPA: [u nas ˈobʂɨj plan], with main word stress on О́бщий.
Yes. Context decides:
Shared/same plan – when you’re talking about coordination between people:
- “Do you and they have the same plan or separate ones?”
- У нас общий план. – We and they share one plan.
Overall / rough plan – when contrasting “general outline” vs detailed steps:
- “Do we at least have an outline?”
- У нас общий план. – We have a general/overall plan (not all the details).
Both readings are natural; only the situation makes it clear which is intended.
общий – shared, common, mutual; one thing belongs to or applies to multiple people.
- У нас общий план. – It’s one plan that is shared by us.
одинаковый – identical, the same in form, but can be separate copies.
- У нас одинаковые планы. – We have plans that are identical to each other, but not necessarily literally one shared plan. Each of us might have our own copy.
У нас одинаковый план (singular) sounds odd: you’d usually pluralize план: одинаковые планы. For a single shared plan, общий план is the idiomatic choice.
Yes, Russian word order is flexible, and you can move общий:
- У нас общий план. – Neutral, most common.
У нас план общий. – Slightly emphasizes общий, like:
“The plan we have is (specifically) common/shared.”Общий у нас план. – Strong focus on общий, stylistically more marked; could sound a bit poetic or emphatic:
“It’s a common plan that we have.”
Basic learner‑friendly choice: У нас общий план.
Grammatically it’s possible, but in everyday Russian it sounds unnatural and bookish.
Native speakers overwhelmingly use у нас (есть) to express “we have”:
- Мы имеем… is usually reserved for:
- formal/official style, or
- set expressions (e.g., имеем право – “have the right”).
In normal speech:
- У нас общий план. – natural.
- Мы имеем общий план. – technically correct but sounds stiff/foreign.
У нас is broader than just “we have.” It literally means “by us / with us / at our side” and can refer to:
At our place / in our home
- У нас дома шумно. – It’s noisy at our place.
In our country / region
- У нас холодно зимой. – It’s cold here in winter.
In our group / organization / company
- У нас строгие правила. – We have strict rules / The rules in our place are strict.
When followed by a noun phrase (often with есть), it often means “we have”:
- У нас есть идея. – We have an idea.
- У нас общий план. – We have a common plan.
You keep the same structure and change нас (we) to них (they, genitive):
- У них общий план. – They have a common/shared plan.
Other persons for reference:
- У меня общий план. – I have a common/overall plan.
- У тебя общий план. – You (singular, informal) have a common/overall plan.
- У него / у неё общий план. – He / she has a common/overall plan.
- У нас общий план. – We have a common/overall plan.
- У вас общий план. – You (plural or polite) have a common/overall plan.
- У них общий план. – They have a common/overall plan.